Basic Cooking Skills: how to chop an onion

We're going to learn to chop this baby

This week's basic cooking skill is one I still struggle with.

Chopping an onion.

You may laugh, but I've read that Julia Child had trouble with chopping onions in an efficient manner. She spent hours and hours practicing that skill. Cooking may have come easily to her, but chopping onions did not.

I don't spend hours practicing and I can do it well enough, but I'm not going to get into culinary school with my onion chopping - and heaven forbid Gordon Ramsay ever sees me at work in my kitchen.

How to chop an onion

Cut off both ends if the onion. (Gordon Ramsay says to leave the root end on to avoid releasing the juices and causing tears, but I haven't found that to make a difference.

Peel the onion and cut it in half, slicing through the root and the tip.

Take one half of the onion and place cut side down. Hold the onion against the board with your knuckles facing the tip and slice through, moving your hand back as you go across.

Holding the onion still and make 2 or 3 parallel cuts starting at the tip end.

 

Holding the whole thing together, turn the onion 180 degrees and slice through again,

Repeat with the other half of the onion.